NYU Downs Baseball in Season Opener

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — In their first game under head coach Peter Blumenauer, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team headed to Coney Island to take on NYU at MCU Park on Tuesday night. The score was 4-1 after three and a half innings, but the Violets ran away in the sixth inning with seven runs as they remained undefeated in 2018.

The Basics

• Final Score: NYU 17, St. Joseph's 2
• Records: NYU (5-0), St. Joseph's (0-1)
• Location: Brooklyn, N.Y. — MCU Park
• SJC Starters: Schwartz (3B), Palermo (1B), Gonzalez (2B), DeLuca (C), Reyes (RF), Esposito (DH), Acosta (LF), Trudden (SS), McLaughlin (CF); Egan (P)

How It Happened

• After a one-two-three top half NYU opened the scoring in the bottom of the first as Jon Iaione picked up his 14th RBI in five games on a single to right for a 1-0 advantage. Then, in the third, an SJC throwing error gave the hosts a 4-0 lead, but the Bears got on the board in the top of the fourth as Kevin Reyes (Bronx, N.Y./ACEI) picked up his first hit and RBI as a Bear on a single to right-center.
• Five-straight base hits in the bottom of the fifth ballooned the Violets' lead to 7-1, and they piled it on in the sixth as five hits and a visitors' error produced seven runs and essentially put the game away with a 14-1 advantage.
• NYU chipped in a run in the seventh and scored two in the eighth on a bases-loaded walk followed by a hit batter. Freshman Justus Acosta (Little Neck, N.Y./Holy Cross) picked up his first career hit and RBI with a single to right in the ninth, but it wasn't enough as the Bears fell to 0-1 on the season.

For the Bears

• Junior Adam Schwartz (Staten Island, N.Y./Susan Wagner) went 1-for-4 with a single in the leadoff spot and classmate Anthony Palermo (Patchogue, N.Y./Sachem North) finished at 1-for-2 with a single, a run scored, and a walk in the two hole.
• Reyes went 1-for-3 with an RBI while sophomore Paul Pellegrino (Brooklyn, N.Y./Midwood) singled and scored as a pinch-hitter.
• Acosta was 1-for-4 while driving in his first career run, and classmate Kyle McLaughlin (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) tallied his first-ever hit on 1-for-3 day.

Next Up for the Bears

• The first two of six games in Virginia taking on Mary Washington for a doubleheader on Friday (Mar. 9) at 1 and 3 p.m. Live stats available at SJCBears.com.